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For me, the holidays have always been about meaningful gatherings and food. Ever since I was a little kid we would host our family and friends. My grandparents, great-aunt, and cousins would come over and everyone would get dressed up. The leaves outside would be turning colors, cooler air would come through the open windows, and the house smelled great. It was my favorite time of year. Since moving to Denver three years ago, we have been working hard at building our community, and by that I mean inviting our friends and neighbors over (regardless of their ethnicity or background) to share in a few of our traditions (tradition!). We've hosted some interesting Passover seders (too much wine drinking, too little afikomen finding), lit Chanukah candles, consumed potato latkes, and invited guests over to dip apples and challah in honey which is the way we start Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year.

This New Year has been hard, as it's the first round of holidays without my father who passed away in May. I was feeling a bit withdrawn and I wasn't even sure I wanted to do anything to mark the holidays. But then, about 2 weeks ago, a FedEx package arrived at my front door. In the parcel was a plastic bag which contained 2 perfectly round challah, wrapped in my mother's signature packaging of choice- aluminum foil. I didn't even have to look at the return address to know who sent them; I knew immediately. It made my day, and it served as a reminder that traditions carry on despite the difficult losses we suffer along the way.

Photo credit: My mom!

I put the challah in the freezer (because without preservatives they don't last long) and took them out to thaw a few hours before they were to be served. Moments before our neighbors arrived, I popped them in the oven at 200 degrees for about 10 minutes. The entire house smelled like home; not my current home, but my childhood home. It's incredible how a tickle of the olfactory nerve can conjure up years gone by. Anyway, I cut a few slices of challah, and we dipped it in some outstanding local honey. Then we made a few toastsM. ay this be a year filled with love, health, happiness, peace, compassion, prosperity and understanding. Happy 5775!

From My Mom:

Throughout the
year, the traditional Sabbath bread, the Challah, is usually made by braiding
strands of dough. At this time of year,
Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, as well as the other High Holidays, it is customary to
use round challahs. Some say it points
to the cyclical nature of the year. It
is also traditional to dip the challah (as well as apples and various other
items) in honey which symbolizes wishes for sweetness in the days to come, and along those lines, round challahs usually have raisins baked
inside.

I recently graduated to using a bread machine
to get the dough started. Here is my recipe:

CHALLAH BREAD

Ingredients

1 cup very warm water

¼ cup oil

1 egg + 1 for top, beaten

1 teaspoon salt

4 cups all-purpose flour + more as
kneaded

½ cup sugar

1 package yeast

Raisins, as needed

Check out your raisins before you
begin. If they don’t seem plump enough when you open the bag or box, place in a
bowl, pour some boiling water to cover, and let them sit. The water will absorb and fluff out your
raisins and make them sweeter, too.

Place all ingredients except raisins
into bread machine and select ‘dough only’ cycle. Take the egg for shine on top out of
refrigerator; if it is too cold it may inhibit the dough from further rising.

When the ‘dough only’ cycle completes,
remove dough to a large, floured bowl.
If you want to make braided challah, you will then need to work on a
large, flat surface. If baking round
challah, you can shape them straight from the bowl.

Knead the dough till all air bubbles
are out, maybe 10 -15 minutes. Add flour
to your hands as you knead, to avoid sticky dough getting glued to your hands. Divide the dough into an equal number of
portions, continuing to eliminate air bubbles and minimize stickiness. This is the appropriate time to add raisins. Tuck 2 or 3 at a time into a portion of
dough, knead some more, add a few more raisins, trying to space them out.

Shape the challahs, either in pans or
on cookie sheets. Let rise about 1 ½ hours, possibly covered with slightly moist
towel. If your oven has a ‘proof’ cycle,
that works wonders at this point.

“Line” the top with egg to give the finished product a nice shine. Bake in a 350 degree preheated oven for 35 minutes or until
challahs appear done.

If you will be baking challahs often,
you might want to ‘cheat.’ Go to www.thekoshercook.com and look for
their varied sized challah baking pans.
They are easy to use and turn out professional-looking challah without
braiding.

I enjoy traveling, photography, hiking, street art, design, architecture, food trucks, gardening, the cosmos, cooking with the seasons, political activism and wallpaper! I know my interests span a variety of categories, here's where they all come together.